6.1 BALLAST WATER TREATMENT TECHNOLOGIES

An increasing awareness of the problem of organism transfer via ships' ballast has encouraged research into existing and potential water treatment technologies which could be used to treat ballast water. Countries leading such research are Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, United States of America and New Zealand.

There are a number of methods of water treatment currently used by industry to treat waste water for disposal or recycling which are potentially applicable for sterilisation or treatment of ballast water. The degree to which these technologies could be applied to the treatment of ballast water depends upon several factors including:

· organism susceptibility to various treatments;
· cost;
· impact of the technology on the environment;
· capability of the treatment to deal with suspended sediment;
· ability of treatment technology to deal with large quantities of water;
· potential for the treatment to be applied on-board the vessel;
· successful disposal of residue resulting from the treatment;
· amount of power required to implement the technology; and
· health and safety aspects.